All I Want to Do

Is make beautiful things for you to wear to express your beauty.  

When I'm not doing that I write stories that reveal the beauty that surrounds me.

Food and Traditions

Deviled eggs are about the only traditional food left at my family dinners. We don't even call them holiday dinners, anymore. I do still set a pretty table, however, with lace tablecloth and china from my first marriage even though this is my third marriage.  

My mother, the granddaughter of a Methodist missionary from Texas who converted over 500 Indians to Christianity, married my dad, a Catholic and the son of Polish immigrants living in Chicago. Everything was fine until she converted to Catholicism and we started going to Mass instead of a Sunday church service. Mom's mother didn't speak to her for three months.

After I divorced my first husband I became a vegetarian and followed a more Eastern path. Turkey was gone from the dinner table and festivities became more diverse. The china remained and I added candles. 

My second husband was an assimilated Mexican. The only time we celebrated culturally was when we went to his hometown and his mother cooked for all ten of her children. Otherwise, he and I had what I called a "restaurant relationship."  We mostly ate out. In fact, we spent one Christmas Eve at The Jefferson Davis Inn, a local tavern. I cringed at the thought, "if my mother could see me now."

My current husband grew up a Mennonite in South Dakota. In the fifties he migrated to San Francisco, was an original beat hipster and followed Gurdjieff. I'm certain his mother had traditions but he didn't bring many to our marriage and blended family of eleven children. I brought everything back.  Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, fruit salad with whip cream. We raised the kids to think for themselves. 

Currently, three go to Sunday Church services, occasionally; one is an atheist; one married a Jewish woman, they seldom go to the synagogue; one is a Buddhist and practices at Temple weekly; one is Catholic, sorta; two are "spiritual" and two are Jehovah Witnesses and go to meetings. 

Today, when asked to bring a dish, I fix deviled eggs. If I'm hosting, the tablecloth still graces the table, I get down the china and serve . . . ?  Well, that depends